The Next Big Three
by StormBringer99
Summary: The Hidden Leaf Village is notorious for producing powerful shinobi, how will the changing world deal with these 3. Mokuton/strong sensor Naruto. Possible harem added later on. Living Minato and Kushina. Naruto and Itachi are the same age.
1. Hidden Leaf Under Attack

**Authors Note: Hey guys this is my first ever story so sorry if it's kind of bad. I just want to get somethings cleared up. First of all in this fic Naruto and Itachi will be the same age which means that they will be placed on the same team. I plan on having a prodigy/Mokuton/strong sensor Naruto and might possibly have him have a harem. Also Naruto won't have the Nine Tails sealed into him, his younger siblings will.****Second thing is that Minato and Kushina won't have perished during the day the Nine Tails was released.****I'll try my best to make this story interesting and if there is anything that you guys feel I need to know just post a comment, if its helpful feedback I will try to use it to the best of my abilities.****_THANK YOU!_**

**Chapter 1**"**RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!!**" Screamed the Nine Tailed Fox as it knocked down another building in the Hidden Leaf Village.

Konohagakure is many things, it is a hidden village, one of the big 5, the strongest of the 5 and home to some of the most powerful shinobi to ever roam mother earth.

It is also the place that is currently under attack by the mighty beast that is the Kyubi or Nine Tailed Fox. A beast so fearsome that it is said to be able to topple over mountains with a swipe of a single tail.

Now even though the beast might be strong there is a reason why the Leaf village is so mighty, the will of fire drives them and keeps them fighting until they exhale their very last breath.

This same will of fire right now is why we find the beast currently being wrestled by a giant red-headed figure.

"Aaaaaarrhhhhh," yelled the giant being as it tried using its weight to stop the fox only to be violently rammed into forcing it to return to its origin size.

"Choza! Are you ok Choza?!"

"...Yeah d-don't worry about me Shikaku, it'll take more than some overgrown mutt to take me out," says the now revealed Choza chuckling regardless of the dire situation. "We just have to hold out until lord Fourth shows up. We have already sent those unable to fight to the bunker and if something were to happen to us and this village, I know that eventually a strong individual would rise and restore this village to what it once was and then some," said Choza with a grim look on his chubby face.

A blond figure appeared just in time to knock a rather large chunk of building back. "Yeah I wouldn't doubt that seeing as with every passing generation of shinobi the will of fire is an even greater drive. Especially with that Naruto Namikaze, I tell you he's something else. If we make it out of here alive I'd have to see if I could set up a marriage between him an my little sapling," said the aforementioned blond.

"Man what the hell Inoichi could you leave this for some other time?" Asked an annoyed Shikaku.

"Hehe sorry, I do wonder how young Naruto is faring with this situation. He will be my future son-in-law so it's only natural."

**(Somewhere Else in the Village)**Said blond was currently under the Hokage monument with his best friend Itachi Uchiha who was holding a little bundle and his older brotherly figure Kakashi Hatake.

In the short 3 years of his life Naruto had never felt like he did right now. His senses were currently being overloaded and he could feel thousands of different signatures all around him while also feeling an immense amount of dread coming off of those signatures, which is why he is seen hyperventilating.

"Naruto, Naruto," yelled a worried 16 year old Kakashi as he shaked Naruto like his life depended on it. "What is it?!"

"Make it stop... please. I can feel so many things and the amount of negative feelings is too much."

A now wide-eyed Kakashi was frozen. His little brother seems to be a sensor, a powerful one at that. SENSING EMOTIONS??? THAT WAS UNHEARD OF. Lucky for him no one nearby seemed to be paying attention apart from his rival, Might Guy, and his little brother's best friend Itachi Uchiha. If it wasn't for the dire situation he would be congratulating him but seeing as his brother needed him, he put his current thoughts at the back of his mind and tried to comfort him.

Kakashi immediately pulled his leaf head protector back and forced his brother to look him in the eyes. Seconds later Naruto's breathing evens out and Kakashi loosens his grip on him.

"Kakashi what did you do to Naruto?" asked a confused Itachi. One moment Naruto was panicking and the other moment he was relaxed, so relaxed that he... fell asleep?

Kakashi gave Itachi a strong look before his facial features softened, "Look Itachi I know thag Naruto trusts you so consider that the only reason I'm telling you this..."

Itachi nodded.

"Naruto seems to be a sensor, a powerful one at that. Now I know what you may be thinking, why am I being so secretive about this development. All I can see is that while me may be the leaf that bask in the glow of the sun, there are roots that grow in the dark. You will get it one day."

At this point Guy let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He thought Kakashi was revealing too much information and was about to reveal more to a abnormally bright kid for his age.

Guy knew very well who those roots were, after all he had interacted with a couple during his missions during the Third Shinobi World War and he knew that they meant business.

Itachi was still confused but noticing Kakashi's serious tone decided to drop the conversation and go back to trying to get his baby brother Sasuke to stop crying. Itachi was no sensor himself but he could feel an evil presence surrounding him that made him certain that this same presence was what was affecting his brother. He could only pray that this ominous presence was somehow eliminated.

And it was right then that he felt as if he had a tremendous pressure removed from himself and judging by the changing morale of the people around him he could tell that he wasn't the only one.

Silence...

After a hard fought battle silence reigned over the crowd. Or atleast it did until from the darkness of the night the villagers saw their leader, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze himself emerge alongside his wife, Kushina Namikaze Uzumaki, the Toad Sannin, Jaraiya and the Legendary Medic, Tsunade Senju with what appeared to be two bundles, one in the hand of the Hokage and one in the hands of his wife.

Alas the mighty beast was toppled over and the village Hidden in the Leaves... was once again victorious.

**Authors Note: Whew, there goes chapter 1. Honestly i felt like it was kind of bad but for a first chapter was decent, which is why i humbly ask to whoever may read this to PLEASE give me some feedback on this chapter.****Next chapter will probably show some Naruto and Itachi bonding and the appearance of the village that one of the females that will be paired with Naruto will come from ;).**


	2. Sharingan Awakened and Tension Rising

**Authors Note: Ok guys so here is the second chapter of the story. I might make it a habit to respond to any comments I get.**

**Vince Basile Jr: Thanks for the recommendations, out of all the characters you mentioned I was planning on adding Tayuya to the Harem. I have something in mind for Tsunade and as for Ino, I'm not sure.**

**bankai777: He'll be meeting him this chapter.**

**Uchiha Arashi: I'm not 100 percent sure that it will be harem I'm still debating this.****Well anyways thanks for the reviews and please keep them coming, now without further ado let the chapter... BEGIN!**

** (2 Years Later After the Attack)**

It has been 2 years since the day that Konoha was under attack by the Nine Tailed Fox. In those 2 years the village didn't change. The adults still remember the monstrous chakra entity and to the youths the whole event is a conundrum.

The only ones who later on learned about what occured that night were Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Itachi.

Speaking of the two young ones, they have been showing tremendous ability in the shinobi field even though they are only 5. So much skill in fact that the Hokage has predicted that they will be the first kids to graduate early since the times of the 3rd Shinobi World War.

To say that Minato was shocked after learning about his son's sensory prowess was an understatement. He can still remember the day he found out about the whole ordeal.

**_FLASHBACK_**

It was the day after the village was attacked by the Nine Tails and we immediately see Minato in the Hokage office stressed. Minato being the loving father he is would have loved to be with his family right now but many troubling events had occured in a short span of time. First was that the appearance of the Nine Tails had given rise to many problems seeing as very few knew that the Nine Tails didn't just appear out of thin air. No you see the gaint fox had been sealed into his wife and due to a one-eyed Uchiha bastard, he almost lost his wife and his 2 newborns. The mysterious man alone confused him, he had known Fugaku since before they were genin and knew that attacking helpless women was below him, not just that but the two had been great friends and rivals so it wouldn't make sense for him to hire a hitman to take out a good part of his family. The man had also claimed to be Madara Uchiha but this alone was impossible, everyone knew that Hashirama had killed Madara in their last battle at the Valley of the End and even if he hadn't age would have eventually caught up to Madara. Even though the masked man had been strong he seemed to be less experienced than you would expect a supposed Madara to be. Oh and he seemed to be cocky but at the same time grudgeful and that latter was something that he simply could not understand.

As if all this wasn't bad enough not only did the villagers start being paranoid, but the security of the village was in danger. The fox had been thrashing around violently and firing fire techniques like crazy and some parts of the walls surrounding Konoha had been destroyed. Also seeing as how their forces were slightly weakened from the attack he had to flaunt their power more than ever to prevent a potential attack from Kumo and Iwa.

And if that wasn't bad enough one of his best nins had just left the village on a long hiatus.

Tsunade Senju had been through a lot. She had lost her lover, newborn son and younger brother Nawaki all on the same day. It was during the times of war and Tsunade had been pregnant. That day the base she was in was being heavily guarded due to the birth of the next Senju heir. The birth was going just fine until a platoon of Iwagakure troops had bombarded her base with powerful techniques. Immediately Chuunins started preparing the escape route and Tsunade and the newborn were escorted to through the route.

Jaraiya, Orochimaru Dan had and her brother Nawaki stayed to fight off the troops along with a few Jounins. The whole thing didn't make sense seeing as the enemies knew exactly where to find them and who were in the base at the time. And true to that when they had finally made it a safe distance away from the base they were ambushed by Rain and Iwa nins. After a long battle the leaf nin had won but not without losing a considerable amount of shinobi including the newly born Senju heir, the baby's father and Nawaki Senju.

After this eventful day Tsunade had changed. She had grown colder to everyone she knew. Not only that but she would often times be seen fighting many shinobi at a time. Alcohol and violence had consumed her life.

Minato and Tsunade had never gotten along. He was a war orphan who had been found during the Second Shinobi World War and throughout his youth had at many times been mistreated by her. At first he had been mad at her constant miatreatment of him but after becoming the apprentice of Jaraiya he had learned about her tragic past and that anger was replaced with sympathy for the woman who had lost everything.

This is why after she told him that she would be leaving he let her go. The life of a ninja is a hard one and her life had been very difficult. She had left with the niece of her deceased lover promising to make the young 7 year old into a strong woman.

All in all reparations were coming along well for the village. The village walls were made of wood and earth and luckily for them, they had a wood style user. He had been a result of one of Orochimaru's experiments.

The Fourth and the sannin never gotten along well. And their relationship had considerably worsened after Minato became Hokage a few months back.

To Minato the sannin was a dark and mysterious person who would sacrifice anyone for what he would say was worthwhile. And Minato being the righteous man he was couldn't stand by this. They had almost fought when Minato discovered how the wood user had gained his power. Ever since then Minato was watching him like a hawk.

Minato was in the middle of signing a document to rebuild a destroyed orphanage when Kakashi entered the room. Minato wouldn't have thought anything of this seeing as Kakashi was never one for following customs and traditions, what made him curious was the look of absolute seriousness on his surrogate son's face.

"Kakashi I can see that you're troubled, what might be causing this?" Asked a worried Minato.

"Minato-sensei I have something important to tell you it's about Naruto," said Kakashi in a serious voice.

It was no surprise to Kakashi when Minato made a couple of handsigns and the room glowed white. Minato went from Hokage mode to father mode.

He adopted a hard look on his face and with a serious tone said, "Continue."

"Yesterday night I found out that he was a sensor and was forced to put him in a sleep inducing genjutsu. He was hyperventilating and said that he felt that the signatures he sensed were giving off negative emotions," said an equally serious Kakashi.

At this point Minato's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, "WHAT?! Are you sure you heard right?! Did he say he sensed their negative emotions?"

"Yes I'm afraid so sir, I immediately put him to a dreamless sleep," said Kakashi.

Minato for lack of a better word was baffled. Never in his entire life had he heard of someone who was a sensor and could sense emotions. "Who else knows?" asked Minato trying but failing to hide his shock.

"Only Guy and Itachi," responded Kakashi.

After hearing that Minato was relieved. Kami-sama knows what would happen if Danzo caught word of this. "Thank you Kakashi, please keep this a secret, if Danzo were to find out about this I'm not sure what would happen."

"No problem sensei. Seeing as that is all I have to say I will be leaving," said a yawning Kakashi taking out what seems to be an orange book out of his pouch

Sighing with a wave of his hand Kakashi left.

After Kakashi exited Minato lifted the privacy seal from the room and started to think a mile a second.

How would he train his son to be a sensor?

The village had very few sensors and if he wasn't careful Danzo might catch on to him.

After some serious internal debate he decided to teach naruto at home. And thus ends the defining moment that started the career of Namikaze Naruto.

**_FLASHBACK END_**

After this Minato had told Kushina that he would personally train Naruto himself and try to help him control his strength.

Naruto had thrown himself into his studies and at the current age of 5. At first he was scared to use his gift because it made him remember the dread that was felt on that eventful night but after a few talks with those close to him he realized that he would use his gift to make sure that no one ever felt so many negative emotions at once ever again. Due to this he eventually found a rival in his best friend Itachi Uchiha. Both boys were always either training with their fathers or training with each. They were already genin material but both fathers agreed not to enter them into the academy until they turned 6.

The village had come to know them as the prodigious duo. They were geniuses in their own right. Itachi had a great affinity for his clans taijutsu and many were certain that when he awakened his sharingan would be a genjutsu monster. Naruto proved to be a true Uzumaki right from the get-go and took fuinjutsu like a fish to water. His body was built similarly to his father so he took it upon himself to learn his fathers taijutsu style, the **Humming Bird.** They both had even learned the basic 3 academy jutsus.

Right now Naruto and Itachi could be seen sparring under the watchful eye of the third Hokage. The third to Naruto was like a grandfather he had already picked a couple of jutsus from each element to teach to Naruto as soon as he graduated and his affinitites were discovered. Whenever Minato couldn't make it to Naruto's training Hiruzen would step in and teach him. Also seeing as nowadays Kushina was busy with Naruko and Arashi he would take Naruto out to eat ice cream and have a good time.

Hiruzen watched with amazement as the kid that he considered a greandson blocked a strike from Itachis tanto with a kunai. He couldn't believe the raw skill these two had.

**_(With Naruto and Itachi)_**

Naruto had just blocked a horizontal strike from Itachi's tanto with a kunai and had followed up with a grapple attempt. He grabbed Itachi by the shirt and flung him near a pond. He then rushed him and right when he was about to feint a stab at him, Itachi backstepped and tripped him with his foot.

"Hehe, do you need help Naruto," said one chuckling Uchiha Itachi.

"Ppfftt, no I do not need help Itachi," said a now standing Naruto only to slip and fall again.

By now Itachi was laughing so hard that he didn't even notice the kunai coming for him until it was too late.

"Itachi move!" screamed a frantic Naruto. He had thought that Itachi was ready so he threw the kunai. Imagine his surprise when he saw the kunai about to impale his friend.

By the time Itachi had noticed what was going on the kunai was less than 6 inches away from approaching him and due to the velocity at which it was coming in, left no chance to be dodge slashed block.

Itachi was feeling angry with himself. He was a ninja in training and here he was about to die to a kunai???!!! A kunai from a friendly, how would his mother feel? What would his father say? How about little Sasuke? He couldn't die here. NO WAY! It was at that moment that his vision felt all fuzzy and he felt an unfamilira burning in his eyes right before the world seemed to slow down for him while at the same time coming into a clearing up. Acting quickly due to the situation, he quickly side-stepped to avoid the kunai and remained unmoving confused with what just happened.

The Third Hokage had been silently watching the whole time. He was ready to use an earth jutsu to block the kunai until to his and Naruto's shock, Itachi dodge the kunai.

Naruto immediately stood up an ran to his friend. "Hey Itachi what was tha... the Sharingan," finished Naruto with a whisper.

Itachi upon hearing this grabbed his tanto and inspeceted his eyes in the reflection, what he saw made the usually stoic Uchiha start grinning like a madman. Instead of the black iris he had grown accustomed to each now had a red iris and each eye now had a single tomoe.

"I have awakened my Sharingan," said an excited Itachi.

Naruto could only stare in shock at the magnificent color of the powerful eye. This was his first time seeing a Sharingan upclose and for some reason he felt as if something was calling out to him. Nontheless he felt happy for his friend. But Naruto being the person he is just couldn't pass up an opportunity to fight his best friend and see how he stood against him now that he had awoken his sharingan.

"Hhmmmpppfff, just cause you got pink eye doesn't mean that you're all that," said Naruto plafully. Naruto thought that this wasn't going to have an effect on Itachi so imagine his surprise when Itachi challenged him to a spar.

Naruto had accepted the spar immediately and from there had realized something. Itachi's timing was completely off. This led to a confused Itachi yielding to a smug naruto.

"Hahaha, oh... some mighty eye that is," said a chuckling Naruto. Itachi for his part was thoroughly confused he could somehwhat predict Naruto's attack but he was... too fast on the reaction and threw off his whole game while at the same time tiring himself out quicker than he would've without the sharingan.

"Oh my, it looks like young Itachi has experienced the problem many Uchihas encounter upon practicing with their Sharingan for the first time. Listen up Itachi what I am about to tell you will be useful to you throughout your whole ninja career. When the sharingan is first used often times the user's enhanced perception will throw off their timing, this can also cause a good amount of stress to your body due to your eyes being able to keep up more with the moves of your opponents. The current taijutsu style you use is for non-sharingan users, the one you want to learn is called the **Interceptor Fist**. When you get home ask your father about this, he'll verify that everything I've said is true," said Hiruzen. Looking up at the sky he realized that it was getting late. "Well boys we should call it quits for today, it is getting late and a man of my age needs his rest."

"Jiji why don't you go on home and Itachi and me go out for some... CELEBRATORY RAMEN," said an ecstatic Naruto seeing a chance to eat the food of the gods, other wise know as ramen.

"My my Naruto-kun I still see you have that obsession with ramen," said the amused former Hokage. "I'll tell you what I will give you extra money so that you may both eat till your hearts are content."

"Awesome, let us go Itachi," said Naruto taking the money and making dramatic gestures with his hands.

"Hey wait a minute I never agreed to this, I would much rather be home than be on my way to eat those salty, wet noodles," said Itachi slightly annoyed at having to wait to learn about his sharingan.

"You just want to get home so you can start training with your pink eye, why don't you come and join me and just re-hey watch it mis-ter," said Naruto as he was shoved by a large man carrying what seemed to be a body bag.

"Itachi, I felt a chakra signature in that bag."

"Let's go Naruto."

With that said the 2 boys chased after the man as quickly as their 5 year old legs would take them. The mysterious man was faster than both of them but he seemed to not know his way around the village too well. He ran into a few dead ends and seemed to be running to the gate?

"Naruto he is kidnapping a helpless person," said a worried Itachi.

"Yeah he is," said an equally worried Naruto.

"If he's really heading for the gate as you say he is, that means he'll escape with a child," said an angry Itachi.

Itachi wasn't one to get angry easily but seeing this man about to escape with a kid made his overprotectiveness come out.

"Don't worry I tagged him with one of my **Super Duper Naruto Special Traps: Chains of Absolute Justice**," said Naruto puffing his chest out a bit.

At this Itachi face-palmed, "You're telling me that we've been chasing this guy for nothing this whol-forget it just activate the darn thing," said an annoyed Itachi.

Naruto immediately channeled chakra to his left shoulder and a symbol that was on it immediately disappeared and everyone in a mile radius could feel the chakra that appeared out of thin air.

When Naruto and Itachi arrived they saw the bag on the floor and the masked man on the floor bounded by what looked like chains of golden chakra.

"Score I got to try out the scroll that I put mom's chains into, I even managed to knock out the dude, remind me to never get mom upset, these things are powerful. Anyways I can't believe it actually worked," said Naruto who was currently fist bumping the air.

Itachi had a massive sweat-drop. "Whatever now, let's see what's in the bag."

Upon opening it he saw a small child with blue hair. After checking to see if the child was breathing and checking for the pulse he opened one of the kids eye lids to notice that it was a lavender colored, pupiless eye.

"Uh hey Itachi this guys has a funny headband on," said Naruto. He had seen his fair share of leaf headbands and this one looked nothing like one from the leaf.

Itachi upon further inspection realized that this man was from Kumo. He had only recognized the headband due to tbe many stories his older cousin Shisui had told him about his time in the 3rd Shinobi World War. What could a Kumo ninja possibly be doing in the Leaf?

He didn't have much of a chance to ponder this before a group of frantic Hyugas came into view. "Explain, right now Uchiha."

Naruto had a look of confusion but still paid attention to Itachi's explanation. One of the older Hyugas was growing increasingly angry the whole time and was about to strike at the bound man until a new voice was heard.

"Stop right there Hiashi," said the now noticed Minato. All eyes were on the Hokage or rather the headband of the tall dark skinned man flanking the Hokages left.

"Kumo," was the last thing that was heard before all hell broke loose.

**Authors Note: And there it is, chapter 2. Overall I feel like this chapter was better than my last one. I feel like there are still some things that I could have changed to improve the chapter but for now all I can do is wait for the reviews.**


	3. Difficulties and Deals

**Author's Note: Ok guys so here is chapter 3 of the series. Seeing as there were no new reviews there is nothing for me to respond to.**

**Last Time on Dragon ba-errrmmm I mean The Next Big Three:**

_One of the older Hyugas was growing increasingly angry the whole time and was about to strike at the bound man until a new voice was heard._

_"Stop right there Hiashi," said the now noticed Minato. All eyes were on the Hokage or rather the headband of the tall dark skinned man flanking the Hokages left.__"Kumo," was the last thing that was heard before all hell broke loose._The area was immediately filled with killing intent so strong that it was palpable. The Hokage has know Hiashi to be a calm and collected man so it was a surprise to him to see the stoic Hiashi Hyuga looking more like a certain blonde Senju woman when she had caught his sensei taking a peak at her while she enjoyed the relaxing waters of the hotsprings.

While the man from Kumo and the Hokage looked unaffected by the killing intent coming from the Hyuga, Naruto and Itachi were currently trembling in unbridled fear. The most fear the had experienced before this was from raging mothers who were worried for the well-being of their oldest kids and that was child's play compared to this.

Hiashi soon enough started advancing towards the towering individual, KI flaring violently. Minato sensing the approaching danger flared out his own KI in an attempt to force the clan head into submission. Hiashi however was having none of it and charged at the man full throttle. By now Naruto and Itachi had passed out due to the KI overwhelming their unaccustomed senses.

The giant had been shocked for a second, not believing that he would be attacked by a leaf shinobi while the hokage was present, before quickly encasing himslef in what seemed to be a cloak of lightning. He swiftly caught the open palm of one Hiashi Hyuga before glaring at the very man whose wrist laid in his hands. "Hokage-dono what is the meaning of this?! I first find out that one of my father's shinobi step out of line in a hostile village and now a high standing political figure of your village attacks me?!" said the livid man.

"Silence you brute. You mean to tell me that this shinobi just so happened to kidnap my daughter and YOU, the son of the CURRENT Raikage had no clue?! It seems preposterous to me!" said an irate Hiashi.

"WHAT YOU DARE CHALLENGE MY CREDIBILITY HYUGA. ME, THE MIGHTY A? LOOK HERE YOU WHITE-EYED SUMBITCH I MAY BE MANY THINGS BUT I WOULD NEVER STOOP SO LOW AS TO TRY AND ABDUCT A CHILD FOR THEIR KEKKEI GENKAI." said the muscular figure. At this point both men looked ready to start a brawl.

"A-dono, _jounin_-san'" said Minato in an attempt to remind Hiashi of his position, " please step away from each other, we all know what an event like this could lead to and I would rather avoid an open war with Kumo."

Seeing reason here A had backed up and Hiashi had been calmed down by the words of his twin brother, Hizashi. "Good, now can anyone explain to me what has occured here." said a more relaxed Minato.

"Well I would rather not speak now, we don't really know the full details seeing as the ones who encountered the man are currently unconscious," said an amused Hizashi pointing to the forgotten prodigies.

After inspecting the 2 forgotten individuals, Minato immediately grew pale. So much KI had been unleashed that if an outsider were to have stumbled across the group they would have assumed a war was going on and here were 2 kids who were only 5, caught in the middle of it. Oh man if Kushina found out about his recklessness he would be sleeping on the couch for an indefinite amount of time. Pinching his nose to fight off the impending headache he sighed. The next few words spoken by two 5 year olds could be what starts a 4th shinobi war or stops one from starting at present time. Seeing that there was still a great deal of tension in the air, Minato has useda for sure method he had learned to use when dealing with his family.

gasp* "Do my eyes deceive me, or does that sign actually say all you can eat ramen?!" Immeadiately Naruto woke up with a smile that could make many think he had just won all of the money in a casino.

"Where, Where's the ramen?!" for a second the tension had been lifted due to the innocence of the 5 year old.

A had been silently observing the kid in front of him and had quickly realized something, this kid had an uncanny resemblance to the Fourth Hokage. "Hokage-dono by any chance are you and this boy related?" asked a curious A, he had long since forgotten about the Hyuga incident and was studying the kid.

Around this same Itachi had begun stirring and soon woke up to see a man with a Kumo headband staring at Naruto. Naruto had also caught sight of the man's headband and after noticing Itachi was awake nodded his head to Itachi and Itachi had mirrored this action. Within seconds both 5 year olds had pounced on the man and were attacking him with everything they had.

Every adult had been both shocked and impressed at the audacity of the boys. They had attacked a foreign shibobi without question and were working well together. It was obvious that they would both be a powerful duo seeing as how they seemed to know the exact move that the other would be about to do and would launch a supplementary attack to increase the chances of landing a hit on the man.

At this point A was certain that the blond kid was the son of Minato and could see that the other was an Uchiha due to the symbol located in the middle of the kid's shirt.

"Naruto, Itachi stand down this very instant," said a Minato who was trying to sound angry but was failing miserably due to the father in him being proud in the strength of his son and his friend.

Naruto and Itachi were both very confused. This man had the same headband as the guy that had kidnapped the blue haired kid from their village and his father/ hokage respectively was telling them to stand down? They honestly couldn't tell what came over the man but nevertheless they obeyed him.

"Haha, they're quite dynamic duo aren't they? I can tell that the blond one is your son, his skill at a young age explains it all, but judging by his height and hid)$ childishness I'd say he is young, he is a prodigy, a prodigy among prodigies along with the Uchiha" said an amused A.

Minato cursed his luck, A had met his oldest son. He wasn't exactly sure as to how A would react if he were to tell him about his other kids as well. Of course there was no reason as to why Minato had to tell him anything else so he just stayed nodded his head and said nothing more.

"Ah you're as perceptive as ever I see A-dono. Your assumption is correct, he is only 5. He along with the Uchiha will be enrolled into the academy in months time and are both predicted to graduate in less than 2 years," said Minato swelling with pride.

"Well then it's good to know that we aren't the only ones who house a prodigious duo. Young Samui and Yugito may be young but they will be some of the finest kunoi-no... shinobi that will ever grace the elemental nations," said a confident A.

"That is quite the bold statement don't you think?" Asked a suspicious Minato.

"Oh no trust me those two would give these boys a run for their money," said a still confident A.

"Oh I highly doubt that any kids could compare to the two young ones present," said Minato.

"Well if you're so sure then how about a friendly wager then?" Asked A. With this A had caught Minato's interest, to show this Minato looked at A and nodded as a way to tell him to elaborate.

"In about two to two and a half years from now Kumo will host the chuunin exams. I will enter the girls into the exams and you'll enter the boys. Which ever team member makes it the furthest will win. The winner which would be either you or me will be able to ask almost anything of he loser," explained A.

"Hmm... what isn't allowed?" asked an intrigued Minato.

"No forced death on the losing party, no asking for private village information, pretth much anhthing that can be harmful to the loser's village."

Minato for his part didn't know what to do, he had heard of rumors saying that Kumo's jinchuriki was in complete control of their tailed beast and he wanted the same for Arashi and Naruko, the only problem was that there was a chance that he could lose and as a result would be forced to give up the secerets of the **Hiraishin**. Then again he did have complete faith in the two boys standing in front of him. Knowing Naruto, this bet could help drive him once Minato tells him it is important for his siblings. That Naruto was always looking out for his younger brother and sister and would give a 110 percent if he knew it was important to them. However it still was a risk... a risk he was willing to take.

All those present by now had forgotten about the Hyuga incident as they heard the conversation that was currently ongoing. They had to admit the deal held some merit to it. They could ask Kumo for the **Raiton No Yoroi**. But if they lost they could potentially be losing the secrets to the **Hiraishin**. It all depended on the decision of Minato in the end.

"So do we have a deal Hokage-dono?" asked a grinning A as he stuck out his hand.

A now equally grinning Minato grabbed A's hand and shook it. "I believe we do."

A couldn't believe his ears, the Hokage had agreed to his deal without having to be persuaded. Oh well better for him he supposed. The secrets of the **Hiraishin** were sure to be Kumo's in 3 years time. The girls wouldn't fail, he just knew it.

By now almost everyone present was about to leave when they were reminded of what was going on by Hiashi clearing his throat.

ahem* "I don't believe we have finished here," said an annoyed Hiashi.

Minato for his part looked a little sheepish, he had forgotten about the Hyugas due to the bet and had been just about to leave before he had been reminded. "Oh of course, now boys could you explain how it was that you found yourselfs in your current predicament?"

Itachi nodded his head and explained. As he spoke those present looked even more shocked with each minute and with good reason too. He had just told them that a; he unlcoked his sharingan, b; Naruto was a sensor and c; Naruto had sealed his mother's sealing chains into a scroll and had detonated the scroll over a distance and captured a jounin.

As soon as the explanation was given A's rage started to rise. It seemed like his father had just attempted to kidnap the Hyuga heiress and didn't tell him knowing that he would stop the kidnapping himself.

Some of the Hyugas were confused after seeing this; wasn't this man in this plan as well? He is the son of the Third Raikage and a contender for the position of the Fourth.

"Kumo scum why is it that you lie? I find it very hard to believe that you were not involved in this," said Hiashi.

"WHAT YOU DARE CALL ME A LIAR?! I SWEAR ON MY HONOR AS A SHINOBI THAT I WAS NOT AWARE OF THESE PLANS!!!" said a furious A. This was easily the angriest A has ever been and it was taking all of his will power to not crush the sternum of the man bound by the chains.

Hiashi for his part, did not look convinced and was just about to voice his displeasure at being taken for a fool once more when Naruto spoke up. "He isn't lying."

All eyes landed on him. "How would you know boy," asked a Hyuga.

"Well like my friend here said I am a sensor and I didn't feel any fluctuations in A's chakra." Naruto was lying, well... half lying. He hadn't felt a fluctuation, he couldn't seeing as he still wasn't too good at controlling his sensing. But he had sensed that the man was telling the truth due to the pure shock that had been radiating from the man once Itachi finished explaining and the fact that he the man held no deception.

Every Hyuga present, minus the heiress, immediately activated their Byakugan. A had thought that he was about to be attacked and simply activated his Raiton no Yoroi. He was about to attack first when Hiashi spoke up.

"A could you please repeat that last part, we would like to check for ourselfs to make sure you're not lying," said a less angry Hiashi.

"I wasn't informed that an event like this would be transpiring, if I would have known, I would have stopped the kidnapping myself."

"Brother he really isn't lying," said a shocked Hizashi. They had believed all of Kumo to be obsessed with Kekkei Genkais and were surprised to see that train of thought proven wrong.

"Of course I wasn't lying, I am not a thief and would never condone this. Now seeing as I have said the truth please hand me that shinobi, this time my father has gone too far and I doubt many at home would be happy to let him continue hsi reign as Raikage knowing that he was willingly about to start a war," said an angry A.

"Yes of course," said Minato glad that the situation came to an end.

"Wait, A-san before you go I would like to apologize for my rude behavior earlier on," said Hiashi.

"No problem Hyuga-san, I am the one who should be apologizing for my fathers pompous behavior," said A.

They both stared at each other before nodding their heads and sticking out their hands, or fist in A's case.

A puzzled Hiashi looked at the mans fist with disgust. This was the next in line for Raikage and he couldn't even do a formal handshake? 'It looks like there's no hope for Kumo' thought Hiashi as he bump fists with the man muttering about "savages" and "brutes" from Kumo.

After this A was seeing with the now unbound man in tow, just about to take his leave when he remembered the kids. He walked up to them and fist bumped them both. "You boys will make excellent ninjas one day, keep working hard and for the love of Kami-sama, START EATING MORE FOOD AND LIFTING WEIGHTS, YOU BOTH ARE AS SKINNY AS THAT WIMP YOU CALL HOKAGE," said a joking A.

The air around them had a lighter felt to and people were chuckling at the Hokages expense.

As A left the area, and example later followed by the Hyugas, Minato remembering what the boys accomplished took it upon himself to treat them to ramen. It was the least he could do.

Author's Note: Alright there you have it. Next chapter Naruto and Itachi will both be entered into the academy and hopefully graduate in the next chapter so that by the chapter that follows that chapter they may be able to start doing missions. If you have any feedback then please, by all means review.


	4. Academic Trials

**Author's Note: Alright guys here is chapter 4, soon enough Naruto and Itachi will be going on missions with the third member of the team. By the time I reveal who the character on their team will be some of you might start to notice why I named this fanfic The Next Big Three instead of just The Big Three. I don't want to say too much seeing as I don't want to spoil the story. I hope you enjoy.**

**bankai777: He'll be meeting her eventually.**

**(8 months later)**

It has been 8 months since the day Minato and A made the bet and ever since then a lot has happened.

For starters, A was now the Fourth Raikage. After returning home he had exposed the plans of his father, shortly after the villagers had come together and demanded that he stepped down. The heavy-hearted Raikage realized that he had failed his village too much and now that the villagers and shinobi had grown tired of him, his time was up. There was only one choice left for him, you see the one of the greatest shames to a Kage was to be forced out of power by a protestant citizens and shinobis and being the prideful man he was, he knew that the very thought of having the shameful situation occuring to him led him to perish by his own hand. The Third Raikage, A had committed suicide. The Third Raikage's oldest son, A had been placed into the position of Fourth Raikage shortly after.

A was heartbroken, when he brought the events of the kidnapping to public eye he had wanted this to serve as a means to an end. His father was a power hungry individual and had done many shameful actions to get his hands on kekkei genkais. A and his father didn't see eye to eye on many things but regardless both loved each other and had a deep trust between the two. Even his brother Bee hadn't been his usual rambuntious self. Eventually they had gotten over their despression with a new drive. They were going to rebuild Kumo from the foundation and up. They weren't going to encourage the strength of the one, they would encourage the strength of the many. They were going to encourage people to form bonds and grow with each other, the village was going to reach greater heights through hardwork and determination not some kekkei genkai. Although the Third Raikage was a formidable person he had very few people who he could trust, this new academic system would have the kids befriend one another to avoid as much hostility as human nature would allow.

A had found the job of Raikage to be very tedious. He would much rather be training than doing paper work. But nonetheless the needs of many far exceed the needs of one. Whenever he wasn't busy with paper work he was busy training Samui and Yugito. Whenever he was he would have the girls trained by powerful jounins and in Yugito's case, by his brother Bee due to her predicament.

The future was definitely looking bright for the village Hidden in the Clouds.

The second thing that happened was probably the most troubling but awe-inspiring of all the events.

Naruto had been discovered to be a natural user of the legendary **Mokuton.** It was all discovered during when Itachi had been practicing his newly acquired **Hosenka no Jutsu.** Naruto had been wandering around while reading a book on fuinjutsu and hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings, soon enough a shout from Itachi had gotten his attention and that was when he saw it, a flaming shuriken on its way to him. At this point Naruto could do nothing but watch as the shuriken was right about to impale him. He felt something foreign but close trying to speak to him, almost as if it was asking him to call on it. His heart started pumping and the what happened in the next few moments would forever be imprinted into his mind. Wood rose from the ground and made a shield like structure right in front of him. By this point Minato had appeared on the field to see his son standing behind a wooden shield. After a quick interrogation he had learned that Naruto seemed to be a natural **Mokuton** user. As happy as he was Minato couldn't help but feel confused about the whole situation. How could Naruto be a natural **Mokuton** user? It didn't make any sense they weren't related to the Senjus or atleast he didn't think they were. The only thing that made sense was thag he had some to have had sort if genetic mutation. Anyways Naruto had gotten a decent grasp of his **Mokuton.** He had gotten ex-root member Tenzo to assist his son in learning about his **Mokuton****.** While he would normally be weary of anything to do with root, Tenzo had proven himself to be loyal to the Hokage and had even gotten the recognition of many of his trusted shinobi.

Well anyways Naruto had proven to be a prodigy in ninjutsus as well. His abnormally high chakra reserves had given Minato the idea of teaching his son shadown clones. He had told Naruto about the secret of the shadow clones which was that upon being dispelled a clone would transfer whatever it had seen or learned in it's lifetime to the original. Naruto had been highly pleased with this and was about to make as many as he physically could but was stopped by Minato who then went and explained that by doing this he would place a great amount of stress on his mind and this would only be detrimental in the long run.

Naruto had been limited to 3 clones per session. It may not seem like much but it really was. The extra help had helped tremendously with his elemental manipulation training. The first step of earth manipulation training is to take mud turn it into dirt and convert it to a hard rock. This had proven to be moderately difficult, it had only taken a week for Naruto to master. The next step however had proven to be much more difficult. He had to make a rock into dirt then mud. This had taken him a month to complete. Afterwards he had decided to move onto water manipulation. There were only 2 stages to water manipulation. The first one was simple, completely soak a leaf by using your chakra. Naruto had taken about a month to get it down to seconds. The next stage was ridiculously harder than the first one, you had to find a waterfall and completely stop the flow for a minute. Even with shadow clones Naruto had taken 3 months to do this. He was now on his last stage of earth manipulation training. The last stage of esrth manipulation was not like the first 2 where you had to change the composition of the starting compound slowly, no this one was all about speed. You had to take a boulder and turn it to dust by using your chakra and your fists. It had taken nearly 3 months and a lot of trips to the hospital for Naruto.

And that is where the elemental training ended for Naruto. He had finished all his exercises and so had Itachi who currently had a strong fire affinity.

Throughout the whole manipulation training they had learned jutsus for their nature. Itachi from his father and from Naruto from the Third Hokage himself. For his earth manipulation the 5 jutsus Hiruzen had picked for him ranged from E ranked earth jutsus all the way to C ranked, these jutsus were Doton: Tsuchi Gunjikoudou no Jutsu (Earth Release: Earth Military Movement Technique), Doton: Ishi Yoroi no Ude (Earth Release: Stone Bracers), **Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (Double Suicide Decapitation Technique), Doton: Doro Gaeshi (Earth Release: Mud Overturn)and Doton: Doryuusou (Earth Release: Earthen Rising Spears).** For his water jutsus Hiruzen had picked2 D ranked,2 C ranked and 1 B ranked ninjutsu. These jutsus were; **Suiton: Suihou (Water Release: Water Bubble), Suiton: Mizubōsō (Water Release: Rampaging Water), Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Wild Water Wave), Suiton: Mizudeppō (Water Release: Water Gun) and Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique)**.

Itachi has learned 1 D ranked jutsu called **Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet), **3 C ranked jutsus those being **Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique), Katon: Dai Endan (Fire Release: Big Flame Bullet)**, **Katon: Bakufū Ranbu (Blast Wave Wild Dance)**and **Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique).** He had learned 1 B ranked as well, **Katon: Inferuno Gufuu (Fire Release: Inferno Tornado).**

Overall their jutsu library was increasing and Minato was by now expecting to win the bet.

Today was going to be Naruto and Itachi's first day at the academy and they were both excited, of course it's not like you could tell with Itachi wearing that stoic expression. Although today was their first day at the academy it was not the first day of the school year. The school year had started 3 months ago and would end in 5 more months. Itachi had turned 6 just 4 months ago and Naruto had turned 6 last week. If it wasn't for his bet with A he would have most likely entered them with those attending their first year, but seeing as the bet was undergoing he had accelerated their training so with the recommendations of Jaraiya, the Third and surprisingly the recently returned Orochimaru he placed them into one of the graduation classes.

**(In the Namikaze estate)**

This morning had been hectic at the normally tranquil estate. Naruto had been a boucing ball of sunshine and his excitement had been infectious, in fact so much so that his younger brother and sister had both ended up tiring themselves out before breakfast had been served copying him. Narutk after being chased by a possessed Kushina holding a frying pan and sporting a rather large bump on his head had finally calmed down. He swiftly finished his breakfast and soon found himself waiting to be accompanied to school by his mother. He waited patiently but she never came out. He didn't think much about this and kept waiting. You see in Konoha it was a tradition that on the first day a kid would attend the academy a parent or both if possible would accompany their kid. Seeing as his father was the Hokage he was too busy to do much which left his mother. He kept waiting, seconds turned into minutes and minutes into what felt like hours. After realizing that his mother would not be escorting him to the academy a dejected Naruto promptly left.

"Ah Naruto-kun finally up I see, what took you so long? I've been waiting here for a long time. I thought you had overslept and were about to miss your first day," said the now revealed Hiruzen. Hiruzen had a feeling what the reason behind his surrogate grandson's late depart had been. Ever since the twins had been born Kushina had been forces to retire from being a shinobi. The twins had also taken up a lot of her time and had left very little for Naruto.

He had come to pickup Naruto predicting that this very outcome would happen.

He had sensed Naruto standing by the door by himself for quite some time this had furthermore proved his earlier prediction to be correct, Naruto walking out with his gaze downcast and his shoulders slumping had been the icing on the cake. Nevertheless this was an important day for Naruto and he would be damned if he let his surrogate grandson's day continue the way it was.

"Jiji, sorry to keep you waiting. I wouldn't have kept you waiting if I had known you were by the door the whole time. Instead I was there ignorant of you waiting and an extension wasting your time," said a sad Naruto.

Hiruzen immediately knew that what Naruto had just said is how he felt about this whole situation with his mom. Today wasn't the first day that something like this had happened. No, it was very commom for Kushina to ignore Naruto and to see Naruto drowning out his feelings to make sure that no one worried about him. Countless times he had been told to tell his mother how he felt but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Minato himself was about to tell his wife but was promptly stopped by Naruto.

"Well it is alright, so are you excited for your first day at the academy?" asked Hiruzen.

"Well I am but I am not at the same time," responded a still sad Naruto.

"Could you elaborate?" Asked Hiruzen.

"Well what I mean is that I am excited because I am one step closer to becoming strong and protecting the village just like you and tou-chan have. I am also excited because I will get to make new friends. The things I am not so happy about is that I will be learning things that I have already learnt and that Itachi and me won't be ready to train nearly as much as we did before," said a happier Naruto by now having forgotten his earlier problem.

Hiruzen was happy to see this and by now had started chuckling. "Well don't worry too much about it you and young Itachi have been placed in the graduating class and in 5 more months should be graduating along with your peers. If you can't train as much as you'd like to, just set goals for yourself like becoming rookie of the year."

"Hhmm... you know what, I think I'll do just that," said Naruto. He now had a new drive that would fuel him for the next 5 months.

The rest of the walk had been relatively peaceful. Upon arriving at the academy Naruto saw Itachi and both of his parents Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha.

"I see that you are man enough to show up Namikaze, now you just need to prove that you have what it takes to match Itachi," said Fugaku. Fugaku and Minato had been friends since their youth and they found it interesting that their wifes and kids were friends as well. He knew that the only kid Itachi's age that could rival and possibly beat Itachi was Naruto, the young Namikaze took after his father in both looks and raw mechanical skill. Minato had been good at almost everything right from the get-go, Naruto seems to be the same.

"Tch you should be saying that to Itachi, I'll be just fine. In fact in 5 months you'll see me as the rookie of the year, belive it dattebayo," said an excited Naruto to excited to notice himself slipping up by using his verbal tick.

At this Mikoto couldn't help but smile. This boy had adopted Kushina's verbal tick and due to his size, age and voice it had made her motherly instincts kick in and soon she found herself suffocating the poor blonde in her ample bust. This resulted in a blue faced Naruto substituting with a nearby log to prevent himself from dying before becoming a ninja.

It was no surprise to those present when Itachi and Naruto had walked inside... with Naruto holding a kunai and sporting a look of bloody murder that was directed at Mikoto.

"Man your mom's technique sure is dangerous Itachi, I almost died," said a heavy breathing Naruto.

"You can say that again however I'm afraid my mom isn't the only one with a dangerous technique," responded Itachi thinking about how when theu were younger Kushina used to do the same thing to them.

Upon entering the academy they were spotted by one of the instructors and soon after brought to the class they had been appointed to. When they entered, all eyes had immediately fallen on them. They noticed that every single kid in the classroom, except 1 was older than them by quite a bit. The ones who stood out were 2 girls whose hair were purple, a kid who was contantly coughing, A girl with crimson red eyes, a kid with a bandanna and a feral looking girl. They seemed to have an aura around them of confidence. Every other student in the classroom had either been fawning over the two or glaring at them.

"Welcome to graduating class 128 Uchiha-san, Namikaze-sama I shall be your instructor for the next 5 months, my name Saiba Suji but you may call me Suji-sensei. Everyone please welcome our new students," said the instructor.

Immediately squeals could be heard from many girls while the guys just grunted in jealousy.

"Girls please calm down, you don't want to make Uchiha-san and Namikaze-sama feel uncomfortable do you?" asked Suji.

"Suji sensei please just call me Naruto, no honorifics needed."

"Just call me Itachi as well."

"Alright then Naruto and Itachi pick a seat anywhere you'd like," responded Suji.

"Yoo-hoo Naruto-kun' Itachi-kun why don't you boys come sit with us," said a brown haired kunoichi wannabe.

"Hey Naruto-kun and Itachi-kun don't have to sit next to you," said another getting into the face of the previous kunoichi.

"Girls, girls let the two decide themselves where they want to sit," said a black haired kid.

"SHUT UP JIN-BAKA," said both girls simultaneously as they gave Jin a double knuckle sandwich.

"ENOUGH! You two, I'll be seeing you after school..." Suji said pointing at the girls. "...And you two pick a spot," he said pointing at Naruto and Itachi.

Naruto and Itachi eventually decided to settle down next to a window that was close to the group they noticed earlier.

(Later That Day)The first day at the academy for Naruto and Itachi had been relatively boring. The instructor had gone over the basic principles of chakra theory and since Naruto and Itachi already knew all of this, they just relaxed and pretended to pay attention. Tomorrow would be a more interesting day seeing as there would be spars taking place tomorrow between the students.

Upon arriving home Naruto was tackled by 2 blurs, one with red hair and yellow highlights and one with yellow hair and red highlights. They were Arashi and Naruko Namikaze.

"To-chan where were you?" asked Naruko.

"Well I was at the academy," responded Naruto. Shortly after, his mother had come to the front door where she pried her younger kids from her oldest one.

"Naruto-chan how was your first day at the academy?"

"It was boring and tiresome kaa-san. I'll be heading to my room. I might train later" I'm feelimg awfully tired," replied a yawning Naruto.

Since Naruto had been walking away he hadn't noticed the look of confusion on his mother's face.

Kushina was always used to be called kaa-chan but this time Naruto had replaced the chan with san. She had to wonder if this was the first time it had happened or if this was the first time she had noticed. Come to think of it she hadn't spent much time with Naruto in a long time. She was wondering if she should be worried about this development until she decided to leave it at that he was tired and must've slipped up. Surely it must be that, he is a prodigy and even though he may only be 6, he was more mature than he let on.

(The Next Day at the Academy)

"Alright if you would please line up and follow me outside, I would greatly appreciate it," said Suji.

The class soon enough made 2 single-file lines and followed Suji outside. "Ok so since there are 27 of you, you must divide yourselves into 9 groups of 3. This will be a tournament style taijutsu drill, that means NO ninjutsu," said Suji.

Immediately the students could be shuffling about and finding their friends. Also cries of "Naruto-kun" and "Itachi-kun" could be heard seeing as Naruto and Itachi needed 1 more partner. Eventually they settled for the feral looking girl who walked up to them.

"Ok with the teams decided you must each appoint a leader and have him or her come to me and draw a straw. Each straw has a number from 1 to 9 and pairs will fave off against each other. This means that team 9 will get to skip the first round of fighting," said an excited looking Suji.

"But sensei that's not fair," said one of the students.

"Well I'm afraid life isn't very fair, now is it?" responded suji. "Alright so quickly decide who the leader will be."

"I vote for Itachi," said Naruto quickly.

"I second that," said the feral girl. "Oh and my name is Hana Inuzuka, nice to meet ya."

"Hn," was the reply of the Uchiha as he walked up to the teacher and drew straw number 1.

"Ok so it's team Itachi vs... team Jin. Will both parties gather on opposite sides of that white line over there? Good, now are both sides ready?" Upong recieving nods from both sides he yelled, "START!" and with that the match kicked off.

Jin had to back pedal as the fist of Naruto came so close to his face that he felt the wind touch him. He wasn't given much time to relax before a swift Itachi came with a roundhouse kick that connected with his abdomen left him winded. Seeing that Jin would be out for a bit Suji called for him to leave the field. Jin left although not before protesting.

Hana herself seemed to be fairing quite well against her opponent. She was a tall blonde haired girl with a slender build and pig tails. Naruto and Itachi noticed that Hana's style seemed to be animalistic which explained her feral look. Eventually a clawed hand found itself around the blondes neck and after noticing that the girl went limp Hana let her go.

At this point only one kid was left and after seeing how easily his teammates had been handled he had to yield.

"Next match team Anko vs team Tsuki."

This match had been pretty sad to say the least. Team Anko consisted of 3 girls. 2 purple haired girls and 1 crimson eyed girl. The 2 purple haired girls seemed to be adept at taijutsu and immediately took down their opponents. The crimson eyed girl seemed to be the worse of the 3 in taijutsu but even then she had quickly taken care of her opponent. The 3 opponents had barely put up a fight. Some were convinced that they couldn't keep up with the girls.

Soon enough the girls came back to meet up with their friends as everyone waited to be called.

**Author's Note: Yo sorry for the long wait, I kept pushing this chapter back. I was planning on making it a minimum of 7k words long but decided to leave that for the next one. I won't make any promises but I'll try to get it out as 7k words and in less than 5 days.**


	5. The Meeting

**Well... it's been a while. This chapter was meant to come out a long time ago but I kind of got lazy and dragged it out. Anyways I'm back, enjoy.**

* * *

"Alright, well let us continue", said a disappointed Suji. He had hoped that the girls would have put up more of a fight, but nevertheless the show must go on.

Next up we have... (I'll be skipping to the end of round 1 seeing as this is too much to write)

Sanji looked around at all his students and couldn't help but feel prideful at seeing them in actuon, they may be young but they would make some fine ninjas. "Alright now that round 1 is done, we will continue with round 2 tomorrow so that those who are injured and/or tired may rest up." And with that the bell rang and out were the students.

"Yo Itachi what're you doing after school?" Asked Naruto who had his hands behind his head.

Itachi kept his gaze forward, he was about to answer Naruto until he heard what seemed like a pained scream. After sharing a quick glance both were off to check out the noise.

Upon arriving at the scene Naruto spotted 3 girls, 1 with a blonde hair in a bob style and fair skin, 1 with pale blonde hair in a ponytail whom also had fair skin and 1 with white hair whom was dark skinned. Upon a quick inspection both Naruto and Itachi could tell that these girls were from Kumo due to their prior experience with the Kumo nin.

The next thing they noticed was a Hyuga male on the floor holding his chest. Acting quickly both Naruto and Itachi started weaving through handsigns, but instead of firing their jutsus they held the last handsign before Naruto spoke up saying, "Step away from the Hyuga, you're on hostile grounds and will be shot down quickly if you do not yield."

The girls seemed to be surprise with the kids so much that they froze. Immediately they realized who these two were. "So you two are the so called prodigies of Konoha?" Asked the bob styled blonde. "Hmm, they don't seem like much Samui, you sure it's them?" Asked the other blonde.

Samui responded with a nod. "I'm sure of it look at how they hold themselves, that and how many toddlers do you know that can weave through handsigns that quickly Yugito?"

"True, I guess you're right but... it never hurts to make sure don't you think?" And with that Yugito quickly jumped at Naruto who was the closest to her.

Acting quickly Naruto called out his Jutsu **"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (Double Suicide Decapitation Technique)" **and soon enough was gone.

Everyone but Itachi was confused when Samui was quickly brought down into the earth until her head was the only part was sticking out. Yugito in fact was so off guard that she was able to be subdued by an Itachi who got a quick punch in that left her gaping for air.

Itachi glared at Yugito and looked at the last girl who has yet to move, "Yield or this will get much worse miss..." he said, sharingan on for the extra effect.

"Mabui, and I'm sorry for the trouble Yugi-chan caused."

"You promise to yield?"

"Definitely."

With that said Naruto soon helped Samui out of the hole he had brought her into and Itachi checked on Yugito to make sure she was fine.

"You punks just got lucky, next time we'll mop the floor with you boys. You guys only managed to pull of all of those moves because we were just surprised that toddlers could do jutsus," said an angry yugito.

"Yo say what, who do you think you're talking to old lady?" Said a defiant Naruto.

"Old lady?!"

"Yeah, it doesn't take a genius to tell that you're aging, I mean just look at your hair color. It's turning pale which means that you'll soon enough have a head full of white hair."

"OH YEAH?!"

"YEAH!"

Said Naruto and Yugito as they both got up in each others faces.

"As a matter of fact that Hyuga was probably trying to let you know about your issue. That was probably why you assaulted him." Said Naruto. "Speaking of the Hyuga, where is h..."

Thump*

"Honorable son, what is the meaning of this?!" Asked the Hyuga. "How could you fall victim to the seduction techniques of an enemy ninja, especially one that lacks so much of the... and the...", said the Hyuga who was making circular motions on his chest and ass with his hands, while having a pink hue on his cheeks and a far away look.

"Huh?" was Narutos intelligent reply.

Yugito on the other hand was livid. Immediately she crossed the distance between herself and the Hyuga in mere milliseconds. "FILTHY, GOOD FOR NOTHING, WHITE-EYED PERV. I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW, I'M ONLY 9 AND I STILL HAVE A LOT OF TIME TO DEVELOP."

This seemed to have brought the Hyuga back to reality. He was being shaken quite erratically and was about to respond when he made eye contact with Yugito. Let's just say that he was thankful when Itachi came and pried Yigito off of him. After a quick thank you and a bow, the Hyuga left rather quickly due to having soiled his pants.

Naruto being the innocent idiot he was was still unsure of what had just unfolded in front of him, but decided to stay silent, not wanting the young girl's wrath to come down on him.

"So what are Kumo ninja doing in Konoha?" questioned a skeptical Itachi.

"Not much, you know; just scouting the competition for the upcoming chunin exams." replied Samui

"Yeah and so far I see no competition whatsoever, I mean seriously you guys are absolute clow-aaaaggghhhh!" Finished a startle Yugito who was dragged into the ground via a

**Double Suicide Decapitation Technique** courtesy of Naruto.

"You're right , the competition is looking a bit weak so far." Replied a now grinning Naruto. " Looks like we'll be becoming Chunins in this exam Itachi."

"Excuse me, I don't mean to burst your bubble but, you guys aren't even Genin yet. There's no way that you guys will become Chunin without being Genin first. Us, on the other hand, have our headbands and are Genin, so I'd say we have a better chance than you two brats."said a smug looking Mabui.

**_ESLEWHERE IN THE VILLAGE_**

"Ah Orochimaru, to what do I owe the 'great pleasure' of your visit?" Said a sarcastic Minato.

"Sorry for my intrusion Hokage-sama, but what, can't I visit my Hokage from time to time to check up on him?"

"Cut the crap we both know that this visit is about something that will benefit you, now cut to the point; I'm busy."

"Well it has been brought to my attention that your son and the Uchiha prodigy have been entered into the batch of academy students that will be graduating in approximately 5 months time... I would like to take them on my team alongside Ms. Mitarashi." responded a serious Orochimaru.

Minato not trusting Orochimary eyed him warily, "The village was pushing you to take a Genin team and you denied the requests, then the village was pushing for you to take a sole apprentice and you denied this request as well. How come all of a sudden you're pushing for what you have avoided for years?"

"Well, let's just be honest Naruto and Itachi are prodigies like no other before them, the only people who could bring out their max potential fall on a short list; Jaraiya, you and me. And let's face it you, are too busy to spend your days training and going out for missions. Jaraiya runs the spy network and his recon expertise is too valuable to give up. And then there's me, I have quite the accomplishments under my belt and am very, very well versed and prepared to teach them."

"Where does Anko fall into in all of this?"

"Out of the graduating class, Mitarashi-san has the highest aptitude for my taijutsu and I plan on passing all my techniques to her."

This alone almost convinced Minato

to put Naruto and Itachi under Orochimaru's tutelage. Orochimaru was a ninja that he knew was in some shady business but due to the unique jutsus that Orochimaru has knowledge of, he is too valuable to lose. Now that Minato thought about it, the deal was sounding pretty good overall. Although he doesn't trust the snake sannin, he knows that the man isn't a fool and wouldn't bring intentional harm on his eldest son out of fear. Also Minato knew very well that the comment Orochimaru made earlier on how only a select few can bring out the kid's potential was very true. He could probably even have Itachi or even Naruto report back to him directly if they saw anything shady on Orchimaru so that's another bonus. And if the situation ever arose, Naruto could channel chakra into the **_Hiraishin_** shiki that was located on his left shoulder and with this he would summon Minato in seconds.

"Hmmmm, it seems like your points are valid. I'll be considering this over the next few months. You are dismissed." started Minato. He had already made up his mind but decided to make the snake sannin wait for an answer, he didn't want to act too quickly or the sannin might catch on to him.

Orochimaru bowed and left without a word.

* * *

**_Back with Naruto and Itachi_**

After the comment made by the smug Mabui, Naruto and Itachi has a verbal argument with the Kunoichis before calling it quits and leaving.

The two friends currently were at the Ichiraku ramen stand talking.

"Man the academy sure is boring, I'm glad that we were put in the graduating class. I'm not sure I could've handled a few years of this shit," said Naruto as he let out a content sigh after having devoured his 5th bowl of ramen.

"Your idea of fun consists of studying sealing techniques and different jutsu and taijutsu katas. The stuff we do at the academy isn't too far off what you'd do on your free time."

"Well you're right but also wrong. You see I have seen some of the other stuff that is taught at the academy and well it's all complete crap. The stuff I teach myself has a purpose and can be used in the battlefield. I get that history is important and all but what I don't get is that pitiful graduation exam."

"Hn. You're right, we would've passed that test by the age of 5." said Itachi as he stood up and paid for his meal. " It's getting late I must get home soon. Don't want to get an earful from my mother. See you Naruto."

"See ya."

Soon Naruto also left. Upon arriving at his home he noticed that his mother seemed to be waiting for him by the front door.

"Naruto-chan how was your day of school? Did you make new friends? How come you came home so late? Were you spending time with your new girlfriend?"

"Woah calm down Kaa-san, it was nothing big. Anyways I'm kind of tired I'm going to shower and go to sleep right after that," said Naruto as he walked past his mother.

"Wait sochi, don't you want to spend time with your mother?" said Kushina as she walked in front of Naruto.

"Sorry Kaa-san, maybe another time. Besides I'm sure Arashi-chan and Naruko-chan wouldn't mind spending time with you," said Naruto a bit harsher than he intended to as he walked around his mother not noticing her rejected look and her open arms that were slowing retracting.

"But I already put them to sleep so that we could spend some time together. It's been a whi...," finished Kushina after realizing that her son was too far to hear her.

"Why do I feel as if theres a rift between me and my eldest child that's slowly growing? Or maybe he was tired, there's a lot that comes with being a prodigy and he's probably also trying to get accustomed to going to the academy. Mikoto is probably going through the same with Itachi right now. Yes! It has to be that, I know my son well enough to know that he wouldn't blow me off just for the heck of it."

Upstairs Naruto was a bit confused. Sure, he wanted his mother to leave him alone but he hadn't intended to respond so harshly to her. He knew that their relationship was slowly deteriorating yet he didn't care enough to take the initiative to get it back to how it was. He loved his younger siblings but ever since they came along he has been spending less and less time with his mother. She was always busy with the two. On top of that his father was the village leader and had too much work to put up with. Hiruzen was a great grandfatherly figure but the love from a psuedo relative isn't the same as love from a blood relative.

Shaking his head Naruto decided to put off his feelings to the side. Soon enough a familiar darkness overtook him.

* * *

"Alright class change of plans. We will not be continuing the friendly tournament, instead we will be setting up mock-assignments, that will give a real mission experience," said Suji.

At this some of the students looked relieved, some looked indifferent and some seemed bummed out, but none more so than one feral looking female.

"UUUUHHHHH, I was hoping to bust some skulls and shit. Now we have to do peaceful missions and what-not. They're probably going to be some d-ranked missions."

"Now hold on there Hana," said Suji, " These missions will contain combat. Two teams of two to four will be given conflicting objectives that will lead to fighting so it's a great way to increase your field experience. The use of jutsus will be allowed as long as they aren't too deadly. Oh and teams will be picked randomly."

At this, many people's interests were captured. The idea of missions that aren't just combat oriented sounded appealing to many. Also teams would be random so the teams would be more balanced and it would get many ***cough* **fangirls ***cough* **a chance to work with the prodigies.

"So when do these practices begin sensei?" asked Hana.

"Right now..." said Suji "...would Naruto, Itachi and Anko step up?"

* * *

**Well there's chapter 5, I'll see if I can get the next chapter out fast. Again sorry for the super long break. I was so lazy that I didn't feel like writing anything. Also I feel like the writing here got worse due to my long break. I honestly felt like I might have forgotten some things that I included in previous chapters. Anyways... please leave a review!**


	6. Rocky Beginnings

**Author's note: Alright so here's the next chapter hope you enjoy.**

* * *

_Previously_ on the _TNBT_:

_"So when do these practices begin sensei?" asked Hana._

_"Right now..." said Suji "...would Naruto, Itachi and Anko step up?"_

A resounding ***SLAP* **was heard through the room as everyone but the 3 aforementioned students amd the instructor slapped themselves.

Soon shouts of outrage and declarations of love broke out.

"ENOUGH." That seemed to calm the class a bit. "It was a coincidence that it happened, although many might not be happy, I ask that you all quit complaining. For team placements their is no guarantee that you'll be on a team with anyone you'd like to be with. Grow up, in less than a year you will be the next fresh batch of genin and must all learn how to work well with one another if you plan on surviving past your first B-ranked mission."

After this was said the whole class was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Without any more troubles the rest of the teams were made and soon enough the students had all made their way out to a nearby field and separated into their designated teams, trying to come up with a plan of sorts.

"Hey, I'm Naruto and that's Itachi le-"

"I know who you are Mr. Namikaze Jr-sama and elite Uchiha-sama," interrupted Anko with a sneer ad she walked away towards her group of friends.

"Hmm, what's her problem?"

Itachi who had been silently watching the altercation with narrowed eyes could only "Hn" in response. She hadn't really left the best first impression on either one of them and while Naruto was more easy going and would definitely attempt to befriend her again, Itachi was more serious. There have been cases where ninjas have betrayed other ninjas and he would have to be careful around Anko. It was clear to him that she seemed to hold a grudge towards them due to their royal lineage.

Naruto being the first born of the current Hokage, heir to the Namikaze-Uzumaki clans and the first born of the last known main house Uzumaki was definitely considered royal lineage. He was the first born and heir to the Uchiha clan, a very powerful clan and one of the founders of Konohagakure no Sato. Unlike them she didn't have a family that was well-versed in the ninja ways, now that he though about it she might actually not even have a family. She was about 9 years old and the 3rd shinobi war had finished roughly about 8 years ago so there was a possibility that they had been killes in action. Maybe they weren't even ninjas to begin with. For all he knew they could have been merchants. Merchants were always in danger on the road and it's possibile that bandits may have killed her parents off. He would have continued thinking about all the possibilities but soon Seiji came and started the first round of fights.

"In the following matches there will be a three vs three where both teams will be provided with a piece if paper. You must decide who to give this paper to and must protect this paper from the enemy team. The winners will be announced either when a party is unable to continue or when the paper of one of the teams has been stolen or destroyed. No lethal force is allowed although you may use your standard issue tools, if I say to stop the match then you must comply. Understood?"

"Hai."(24)

"So could (don't feel like writing names) and (same as previously written) report to the arena? Everyone else wait patiently until it's your turn.

(I'll skip the fights that lead up to team Naruto)

"Hmm." So far Suji was satisfied with some of the performances he has seen. Anko's group of friends all seem very skilled but then again he already knew that, he had been teaching them for a while now. Of course there were also those who he was greatly disappointed in ***cough* **fangirls ***cough* **but he knew that at this point there wasn't much that could he done. With the students graduating in less than 6 months they would soon take the exam given to them by their Jonin and many would fail.

Next up was a team that would definitely not disappoint. He had been ordered by Orochimaru himself to put these three together in a team. He immediately complied, Orochimaru was a powerful figure in the village and while many may see it as a bit strange for Orochimaru to take an interest in 3 very young Genin hopefuls, he did not. After all the team was compromised of 3 highly skilled students and a person of Orochimaru's skill would definitely being out the best in these three students.

"The match between Naruto Namizake-Uzumaki, Itachi Uchiha and Anko Mitarashi vs (don't feel like writing out the names) begins... now!"

As soon as the last word had left Seiji's mouth Itachi had flung 3 shuriken with 2 looking to be off target. This led to one of the students letting his guard down only to be shocked as the 2 shurikens clashed and soon enough the trajectory of one of the shurikens was changed and before he even realized it the paper he had held in his hand had been stabbed by the shuriken and said shuriken had soon stopped on the floor. Realizing what happened one of his teammates attempted to run for the paper only to spin stop once she saw that Naruto had picked up the paper and had quickly ripped it up.

Throughout the classroom only compliments were heard for the team.

"Well done guys, you managed to take down the opposition in a very effective manner and even managed to throw them off their game with that one surprise."

Naruto and Itachi seemed relatively satisfied. Anko on the other hand seemed annoyed, Naruto and Itachi had finished the drill very early and as a result she didn't get a chance to do anything. Thinking about it and seeing the praise that the two got only seemed to infuriate Anko even more. She just knew that this was their way of getting back at her for how rude she was to them earlier and as a result she refused to let them show her up. Anko was very ready for the next round.

"Ok so for this next round the rules will all be the same. The first match of the semi-finals will be Kurenai Yuhi, Hana Inuzuka and Yugao Uzuki vs Genma Shiranui, Gekko Hayate and Seijoka Akashita will begin shortly. All fighters please make your way to the field." In less than a minute all those present on the field were in a battle stance. " The fight will begin... now!"

Immediately Kurenai had jumped back while Hana had adopted a protective position in front of Kurenai while Yugao was up ahead.

Hayate, Genma and Seijoka had all decided to stay back. They each knew about Kurenai's aptitude for genjutsu and didn't want to be caught within the range of her genjutsu.

No one would move an inch and the spectators were getting impatient. Seconds turned to minutes and finally Kurenai reached into one of her pouches and pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it at the floor. This caused the enemy team to put even more distance between themselves and Kurenai's team. After some waiting the smoke began to dissipate and as soon as it did purple was seen being followed by brown and black in that exact order. Muscles tensed and soon enough the action began. Kurenai was still in the back and had maintained a safe distance from her enemies yet she wouldn't do anything which not only confused her enemies, but also the spectators with the exception of three people.

Due to Kurenai hanging back Hana was soon double-teamed by Genma and Seijoka who were fighting her using their fists and a kunai respectively. Hana was using her claws to try to create some distance between herself and her opponents. Hana went to swipe diagonally at Genma only for him to duck very low to the ground and have to retreat from a kunai that would have stabbed right through her shoulder if she wouldn't have moved. She cursed wishing that it would have been a wooden kunai. She had noticed earlier that Seijoka was reaching for a kunai and had wished that it would have been a wooden one because due to her sharp claws she would have had an upper hand fighting against a wooden tool but when she saw the metallic glare of the standard issue kunai, her hope had vanished.

This time Genma pressed forward and swiped low under another diagonal swipe, again Seijoka came to his defense with a horizontal swipe of her own kunai that scratched one of Hana's claws when contact was made. However, unlike last time they didn't give Hana anytime to breath as Genma has spit out the senbon in his mouth at Hana. Hana who was caught off guard, deflected the senbon that due to the close proximity would have hit her neck but was soon kicked into a tree that was near their starting position.

Meanwhile Yugao and Hayate had been fighting the whole time with kunais. Yugao had swept Hayate's legs from under him and was about to plunge her Kunai into his abdomen but had to block a kick that would have made contact with her jaw if it would have been left unprotected. The sheer force of the kick and her weak grip had resulted in the kunai being forced out of her hand. She quickly moved back while shooting shuriken of her own, which were for the most part on target. This had slowed down Hayate's advancement and she was able to get her kunai back and quickly she sprung back into action and brought the kunai in a downward arc while Hayate brought up his kunai and another one that he quickly drew to stop the kunai in Yugao's hand. The two started to put more force into the clash. It was clear that Yugap had the upper hand, she had a stance that better utilized her energy and was also pushing downwards while Hayate's hands were too close and his legs were at an awkward position. This resulted in Hayate tiring out much quicker and realizing that he was going to lose the clash. Right when his arms were about to give up, Genma had managed to sneak up on Yugao and throw her near the tree that he noticed Hana was currently standing up by. He also noticed that Kurenai was right behind Hana.

Looking at each other Genma, Seijoka and Hayate nodded before rushing at the trio of girls. Due to the adrenine and excitement coursing through them they forgot about Kurenai's ability with genjustsu and soon another smoke bomb was dropped courtesy of Hana. By the time it was dropped they were too close and were deep inside the smoke. Sounds of fighting were heard for about a minute before everything went quiet. Soon the smoke started to dissipate once again and all but three were shocked by the outcome. So shocked in fact that not a single noise or word was spoken. On the floor, the aggressors of the final attack were seen and standing triumphantly were the trio of girls.

"Winners, Kurenai Yuhi, Yugao Uzuki and Hana Inuzuka. Job well done."After that the class was still a bit confused but eventually cheered for them.

Would Naruto, Itachi, Anko and (dont feel like thinking up names) step up and go to the left and right side of the field respectively?" With that said both parties were on their way to their designated areas. " The final match of the semifinals begins now!"

This time Anko has rushed forward quickly and delivered a low sweep that had hit the enemy in the leg and followed it up by another to fully throw him off balance, this converted into a kick to the solar plexus that had looked like it was going to create separation between the two, only for the student to come right back and get a hard knee to the face. Very few noticed that during the initial low sweep she had some ninja wire ready and had managed to wrap it around her opponent, after the second one she had layered the wire and when she delivered the kick to the solar plexus she had tugged on the rope. With one enemy disabled she was about to go right after another one when she realized that the paper was retrieved and destroyed.

"Job well done guys, Brilliant use of ninja wire Anko. There will be a thirty minute break and then we will proceed with the finals until then, do what ever you'd like," Suji finished with a proud smile.

"Wow Anko you work fast. Very nice job disabling (random name). You made it look easy." Naruto walked up to her.

Anko just looked at Naruto with a glare. And soon left.

"Naruto you should be careful around her."

"What do you mean Itachi?"

"She seems hostile towards us and I would much rather not have to worry about making a potential enemy within the village."

"Are you saying that you feel like Anko would attack us?"

"Hn."

"Well thanks for the heads up but I will keep on trying to befriend her."

"Hn. It's your grave."

With all that said the rest of their conversation was rather nice and joyful. Naruto had looked over at Anko's group every once in a while and was treated with the sight Anko glaring at Itachi and him everytime.

Soon the 30 minutes went by and Suji came back to start the final round.

"Alright could our final teams report to the arena." All six contestants could be seen walking towards the field. Naruto had a happy expression, Itachi looked indifferent, Anko was still glaring at Naruto and Itachi, Yugao looked indifferent, Hana had a cocky smirk and Kurenai wore a calculative look on her face.

"For the finals the rules will be the same as the ones from previous rounds. Now are both sides ready?"

Only nods were given.

"The final match starts in 3, 2, 1, now!"

Like her previous match kurenai had thrown a smoke bomb at the floor. Both teams had waited for the smoke to clear and once it cleared, they leapt at each other. Metal struck metal, flesh struck flesh, flesh struck... air?

Anko had decided to target her friend Kurenai and had been surprised when she had thought that she would make physical contact only to be surprised when she had gone right through Kurenai. Immediately thinking that she had been caught in a genjutsu she flared her chakra, however, Kurenai did not disappear.

"Anko, she's in the tallest tree, the one that's near their starting position." Said Naruto who quickly had to dodge an incoming shuriken.

Ankle puffing her cheeks in frustration at having been corrected by the boy she had been rude to the whole day, dashed at the awaiting Kurenai who was discretely preparing a genjutsu for Anko.

Kurenai had noticed that her good friend Anko had been very pissed and it seemed that she was pissed at the Namikaze and the Uchiha. She had an idea as to why she was pissed so she hadn't asked. Seeing that another was like than 10 feet away from her she launched her genjutsu.

Anko who was still mad hadn't realized that she had been caught by a genjutsu, so when she had hit Kurenai only to phase through her again she yelled in rage, "NAMIKAZE WHAT THE FUCK!"

Hearing his name and the obvious rage in her voice Naruto had turned towards her for a split second wondering what was going on. "What's up?"

Anko forgetting about the current drill stormed towards him while spitting insults. "You little bastard, what's your problem?! Trying to screw me over on purpose! Just leave me ALONE!"

Not knowing what to do, Naruto had turned his back and started facing Hana again. He was about to charge Hana and end the match when he heard a ***cling* **that had come from behind him. When he turned around the first thing he noticed was the back of one Uchiha Itachi who by the look of it had thrown something. Still not understanding what was going on he looked a bit up ahead to see Anko with her arm stretched in front of her looking as if she'd thrown something as well. Finally realizing what goes on he silently thanked Itachi.

By now everyone was quiet and shocked. They never thought that Anko would turn on a teammate, especially one whose parents were who they were.

"What do you think you're doing Anko?!"

Anko was pissed.

Itachi was pissed.

But so was Naruto.

* * *

**Author's note: Anyone see what I'm doing here? I'll finish the match next chapter, but please, for now just read enjoy and review.**


	7. Surprises

**Author's note: Yo it's your boy here with the next chapter. So I read some of the reviews I got and all I have to say is sometimes things aren't what they seem... Anyways, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

_Last time on TNBT:_

_By now everyone was quiet and shocked. They never thought that Anko would turn on a teammate, especially one whose parents were who they were._

_"What do you think you're doing Anko?!"_

_Anko was pissed._

_Itachi was pissed._

_But so was Naruto._

Anko who had yet to recompose herself had a savage grin plastered on her face. "What does it look like genius?"

Immediately she threw another shuriken. This time it was Naruto who took the initiative and had dashed in a straight line towards her at a speed so quick that she had no hope of tracking, let alone reacting to it. She could have sworn that she got punched in the stomach, she also could've sworn that the momentum he had should've thrown her backwards, which is why she was very confused when she didn't feel the pain that she should have felt but instead felt a pressure on her left side that sent her rolling with said pressure still on her.

Soon her vision cleared up and when she looked up she was Naruto leaning on her. She also noticed that the furious expression on his face wasn't there. She looked around and noticed that Itachi wasn't even where he was just a few seconds ago. She spotted 2 shuriken that were lying all by themselves and quickly put everything else she had noticed together and realized that it all had been an illusion.

"Are you ok Anko?"

"What happened? I want to know, now!"

"Well, You went after Kurenai and I'm not too sure why but you screamed my name in fury and soon enough you started throwing shuriken in a random direction."

"Hmm, that's cool and all but why are you on me?" Asked Anko whose anger was still rising.

Naruto pointed to a spot and when Anko looked she saw that a shuriken stuck the ground. "Well I noticed that you weren't moving and that you seemed to be spouting insults at who I assumed was me so I quickly deduced that you were under a genjutsu. I quickly ran towards you to break the genjutsu and when I was close I saw that Kurenai had thrown a shuriken in your direction so I quickly tackled you to the side and broke the genjustsu and here we are now."

At the end of his explanation Anko's anger had started to dull. She was in deep thought when she noticed that he shifted her into his arms and started running. She was about to scream at him but then noticed that more shuriken had landed in the spot they were just a few seconds ago.

"It seems that there's a problem here, I'm not exactly sure what started it but I'd like to get it fixed. But at a future date."

In response, Anko looked away and puffed her cheeks. At this many fangirls were screaming in outrage. No matter how much they'd hate to say it, Naruto and Anko did look cute in their current position.

Soon Naruto put her down and took his fighting stance once more. He was going for a quick finish, and that's exactly what he did. He had attacked Hana with great speeds that really didnt leave her open, that added with Anko lurking made for quite an easy victory.

Naruto to be frank, was perplexed. One minute Anko is being rude, another minute she is glaring at him, then after that pretty much tries to attack him, and then she is willingly working with him?

Women, am I right?

Itachi noticing, his teams intentions quickly finished the fight by sending casting a mild genjutsu that made it seem as if he jumped into the air and made the sun emit a brighter light than normal, so when Yugao looked up she was blinded and as a result Itachi had taken her out with a chop to the back of the neck.

Kurenai seeing her current situation had no other choice than to yield.

"Congratulations to Naruto, Itachi and Anko. Job well done students." Said a smiling Suji.

Suji more or less had an idea of why Anko had thrown the shuriken at air, although he may have reitired from the active shinobi roster he had an idea as to what had happened. He had noticed that Kurenai had casted a subtle genjutsu on Anko and quickly moved. He had expected Kurenai to attack, what he didn't expect was for Anko to scream Naruto's name in anger and attack air. He was very sure that where she shot was where Naruto was located in the genjutsu. He also had seen Anko's eyes and had noticed her eyes following something or someone else. He assumed that it was most likely Itachi.

He would have to report this development to the Hokage.

* * *

"Suji-san, Hokage-sama will now see you."

"Thank you Akane-san."

***knock knock***

"Suji, how can I help you?" Asked Minato as he looked up from his paper work.

"Hokage-sama I have some troubling news for you." Said a serious Suji.

"Continue."

Suji explained everything to Minato who had mixed feelings about the situation. On one hand he was proud that his son and his best friend performed so adequately in the drill, he was also proud that his son had acted professionally with Anko even after everything went down. He understood why Anko seemed to dislike the boys at first but was in pure shock and anger after he found out how she attacked one of her teammates in an illusion and seemed to be ready to fight them both in a mock mission. If that would have been a real life situation then surely someone could've been killed. Only one thing came to mind, he didn't want to do it but he has a responsibility, as a leader and as a father.

"Thank you Suji, I will resolve this problem in due time, if that is all then you are dismissed." said Minato.

Bowing deeply Suji said, "Hai, thank you for your time Hokage-sama." And without another word exited the Hokage's office.

"Anbu..." 4 presences appeared right in front of him. "...find and bring me Orochimaru."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

* * *

Orochimaru had been present during the drill and he had been satisfied with the performance of Anko, Itachi and Naruto up until Anko let her anger take the better of her. He however didn't worry much, many teams start shaky. Reltionships are built over time, so it was no surprise to him when he noticed Anko's dislike of the two young prodigies. He was surprised when she attacked though but oh well, they'll manage, or so he hoped.

He had a feeling that Suji was going to report this development to the Hokage and he was going to trail him and tell him to not worry about it, that he'll take care of it but at that exact time Jiraiya had spotted him and a conversation near the academy soon turned into a conversation in a bar.

Soon he noticed the time and dismissed himself. Upon exiting the bar he was approached by Anbu.

"Hokage-sama would like and audience with you Lord Orochimaru." Said an Anbu with a dog mask.

Nodding Orochimaru disappeared in a sealess shunshin.

"You called Hokage-sama."

Ignoring the fact that Orochimaru had just appeared in his office without knocking Minato continued, "It appears

that your desired team might not be possible anymore."

"I know, I was there myself when it happened." Replied a smirking Orochimaru. "But still don't you think it's too early to decide? I mean not every team starts with members who are in perfect synergy and willing to cooperate. Just look at Tsunade, Jiraiya and I. Jiraiya was on my ass, Tsunade ignored Jiraiya and I thought he was a complete idiot and useless, however through missions we built an bond and became renowned around the elemental nations for our perfect teamwork."

At this Minato didn't give an immediate response, what Orochimaru said did have some merit. He was instantly reminded of his former team. Kakashi didn't get along with Obito and the two argued for everything. Their final mission together had started a more positive relationship together although it didn't last due to Obito's untimely death.

"Minato, I know you're worried for your son but you can't protect him forever. This is a cruel world and individuals who are kept in a bubble will suffer the most when that bubble is popped."

Minato was so focused on the second part of that sentence that he didn't even care that Orochimaru hadn't given him the proper respect. He normally wasn't a man that cared much about honorifics as long as it pertained to those that he respected, he did not hold respect for Orochimaru so he was normally adamant with Orochimaru on using honorifics when referring or speaking to him.

"Like I said before Minato, those three have a very great potential that not many are currently capable of unleashing to the max. Jiraiya's spy network is too valuable to the village, Tsunade is traveling the elemental nations, you're the Hokage and can't really go outside of the village unless it's on diplomatic meetings and your wife is currently taking care of your kids. There are some young up and coming shinobi but they are too inexperienced to be teaching a team, let alone a one with as much potential as this one."

Finally making up his mind Minato decided to give his response to Orochimaru, " Although I wish that you were wrong, I can't deny the fact that you're right in this situation. So as of today I give you my word that those 3 will be placed in a team together with you as their sensei."

Orochimaru couldn't help but let a victorious smirk overtake his face. He was about to walk out but Minato's voice stopped him.

"Orochimaru, I am putting great faith in you, DON'T disappoint. If that is all you are dismissed."

"Hai, thank you Hokage-sama."

* * *

**(Later that evening)**"Kushi-chan, I'm home."

Peeking her head from the corner Kushina responded, "Well you came earlier than usual."

"Well you did say that you had a surprise for the family, my interest was piqued seeing as you never word anything like that. So when are you going to reveal the surprise?"

"When Naruto arrives. He should be arriving soon. He probably spent the afternoon sparring with Itachi."

At that exact moment Naruto walked through the door, he had burn and wet clothes and had light cuts on his body.

"Itachi must have gotten you good." Said an amused Minato.

"Oh yeah well you should see what I did to him Tou-chan, let's just say dirt has made it's way into all his intestines." Said Naruto as he started cracking up.

"By the way Naruto I heard about the situation you had with Anko."

"It's nothing really, I'll be fine."

Curios, Kushina decides to add herself to the conversation, "What situation?"

Minato quickly explained the situation in detail. By the end of the explanation Kushina was horrified and angered. She would have confronted Anko but it would not be good in the public eye if the Hokage's wife went around and insulted and/or threatened Genin wannabes so she had to show some restraint.

"Naru-chan are you alright? Were you scared or nervous? Do you need protection from you Kaa-chan?" Said Kushina trying to smother Naruto with motherly affection.

"Kaa-san I'm fine. Itachi and I have been playing pranks on each other for a long time. I'm always ready for the unexpected."

Kushina strained to not frown as she once again heard him refer to her ask "Kaa-san" instead of "Kaa-chan".

Minato seeing the uncomfortable look on his eldest's face decided to intervene. "Well now that Naruto's here why not call the twins?" Said Minato giving his wife a look that said we'll continue this later.

Kushina catching on responded by saying, " Great idea Minato-kun. Arashi-chan, Naruko-chan come here please."

Soon enough the two twins appeared in the living room and tackled their older brother.

"Oni-san where were you, Ara-chan and I were waiting for you all afternoon to show up and you never came?" Said the youngest female of the Namikaze-Uzumaki household.

"Yeah Ruko-chan and I got lonely and sad." Replied the youngest male of the Namikaze-Uzumaki household.

"I'm sorry guys, I was a at Itachi's house training with him. I'll make it up to you guys tomorrow,promise."

"Pinky promise?" Asked the twins simultaneously.

"Pinky promise, cross my heart." Replied Naruto.

Kushina couldn't help but let a wholesome smile appear on her face. Even if the relationship between her and her eldest had worsened over the years right under her nose, it was good to see that he still got along well with his younger siblings.

"Ok everyone please make your way to the kitchen I have prepared special ramen for all of you to eat." Said Kushina with a content smile.

At the mention of ramen, the mouth's everyone in the household immediately started salivating. Ramen was one weakness of the Namikaze-Uzumaki family but they didn't really care that it was.

Quickly making their way to the kitchen they all sat down in their designated chairs and either served or were served ramen.

"Now before you dig in there's something I have to tell you all. There is a sealing formula in the bottom of the bowl and if you channel chakra into the bottom of the bowl something will be revealed. Now since Ara-chan and Ruko-chan can't channel chakra someone else will have to do it for them."

Naruto quickly made 2 clones and said clones went towards the twins. Soon everyone except Kushina lifted their bowls off the table just enough so that they could place their hands on the bottom of the bowl.

"Ok three, two, one, now."

Quickly channeling chakra everyone waited with baited breath. Only to see the broth turning pink? And were the noodles changing? Wait a minute did that one noodle just read girl?

"Surprise! I'm pregnant, and the gender is a girl." Said Kushina as she pulled up her loose blouse up until her lower breast to show her slightly bulging stomach.

There was a prolonged silence right before cheers brought life to the Namikaze-Uzumaki household. Minato had hugged Kushina, the twins had ran up to their mother and she had hugged them each with one arm as they softly rubbed her stomach, Naruto had... disappeared.

Minato and Kushina shared a glance. Minato noticed that Kushina was starting to tear up and so he quickly gave her a look that told her "I'll take care of it" and went to find their eldest.

"Naruto-kun, Naruto-kun where are you? Your mom is worried, you left without a word."

Seeing the light on in Naruto's room he made his way and entered only to see his son in applying medicine on his cuts.

"Sorry Tou-chan, the cuts on by body started hurting more and I left quickly to apply medicine before the pain got worse. I'm honestly not feeling too good, Itachi and I exhausted ourselves more than usual. I think I'm going to shower and go rest immediately."

Minato knew Naruto was lying, he was a terrible liar much like himself, but rather than call him on his bluff, he let it slide.

"Ok rest well Naruto-kun, goodnight."

"Thank you, goodnight to you too as well Tou-chan."

Walking back into the living room, Mianto have his wife a sad look as she noticed that he came back looking sad himself and with no Naruto present.

Hearing their mother sniff the twins looked up and noticed that Kushina's face was a bit red and she seemed to have watery eyes.

"Kaa-chan are you ok?" Asked Arashi.

"You're Kaa-chan is fine, it's just that..."

"She is pregnant and needs space or she might start to feel dizzy." Finished Mianto. "You two should start getting ready for bed, it's getting late."

"Hai Tou-chan."

After the twins had left Kushina resumed the conversation from earlier.

"Minato-kun, have you noticed that Naru-chan has been acting weird around me lately? He doesn't call me Kaa-chan anymore. He's uncomfortable with me holding him. He seems to be dodging me. He-"

"Kushi-chan, you're tired and pregnant it would be best if we were to continue this conversation at a later day. You're pregnant and it would be better if you were to remain as stress free as possible." Pleaded Minato desperately

Seeing how much her husband wanted to avoid the topic she decided to drop it for now.

"Shall we rest?" Asked Minato offering Kushina his arm.

"Please." Desperately said a tired Kushina. She had been feeling more tired ever since she discovered that she was pregnant and today she was definitely feeling it.

Soon enough all those present at the Namikaze-Uzumaki household were asleep, all but one young blonde who was thinking on the events of the evening.

* * *

**Author's note: So this chapter and the next few chapters will have been written but uploaded on a different day than the day they were finished being written. Anyways enjoy, by the way did anyone see what I was doing with the pink broth?**


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